6.14.2013

The Optimist

With Kodaline's Perfect World being released only in the UK (really, very few of their songs are available for purchase in the US), San Cisco's latest (self-titled) album still not available in the US, and the inability of great artists (like Frank Turner or The Wombats) to travel and perform any place south of Atlanta, it's almost enough to make me fall exclusively for American bands (after all, we all know that Canada continually produces amazing indie rock bands [Mother Mother, Tokyo Police Club, Apollo Ghosts, Grimes] and that no one can beat a good all-American rock band [nothing sounds as good as The Fray, The All-American Rejects, or Panic! At the Disco during their live performances]). Then I find music like this and think, "yep, I'll just swear my allegiance to American music now".

City Rain's latest single, "The Optimist", is one of the few songs I've heard this year where I have immediately acknowledged the fact that this band is not only great, but that other people will think they're pretty awesome, as well (i.e. they're not going to be a secret for long). City Rain's music and, more specifically, this single, is too catchy, the lyrics are just great and inspiring enough to sing along to, those rough rock vocals and electronic instrumentation just sound oh so good together and, despite every other aspect of perceived greatness, a band's success really comes down to the 'likability' of the members, and the charisma (on-stage and off) which these guys possess cannot be denied.

What better song to start your weekend than one that preaches optimism in the face of "broken dreams and broken hearts, empty streets and empty hearts"; personally, I can't help but sing along to lines like "do you ever stop to emphasize or are you drowning in your lies", "do you understand that on this ride there is nowhere to run and hide", and, that ever repeating, "there's an optimist in me".